Quarantine Creativity

Musicians, artists, actors... really any live performers have been hit hard by the current global situation. Personally I have lost six months of work (with one kindly worded email) and it hit pretty hard. Fortunately I have some friends with a better imagination than me and they asked me to be a part of their project. So... what can we do to fill the void left by a lack of live theatre?

Social Media

Yes, I am aware this is not going to be ground-breaking information but Social Media is key right now. I am sure that your various news feeds are filled with performances from arm chairs and makeshift home studios. I have been posting more frequently across all my social media and while it fills in some time it's not filling the gap.

I am an opera singer and I have been posting old recordings and photographs from performances. I have been talking about my plans to improve my online presence and have even taken down my website to give it an overhaul.

What am I doing to fill the void?

As I mentioned before, I have some clever friends who invited me to take part in their project. I am part of a nine person team creating an exclusively online opera. Each week we meet on Zoom to plan the scene for the week (or episode as we are calling it). Then throughout the week...

1. The Musical Director records the piano accompaniment
2. The singers record the vocal parts
3. We film our scenes, alone, in our own homes with the Director on Zoom instructing
4. Everything is sent to the Director

Then with the Assistant Director and Musical Director everything is edited to create an episode. Every Saturday an episode is loaded to Facebook and then we share like mad to get it out there to our audience.

All of the cast and crew have worked together before but this will be the first time I have created an entire production without any physical interaction with my cast mates.

What can you do?

Simple... watch. Personally, I am a performer to entertain an audience. I love what I do and get a great deal of personal enjoyment out of it, but without an audience it is just practising. In the currently situation, as an audience member you can watch, like, comment, share and watch it again. I do this because I want you to enjoy.

If you have time, search Quarantine Cosi on Facebook or Instagram and watch the episodes that have already been released. We perform for you, the audience. I hope you enjoy!

www.quarantine-cosi.com